1. Field Of The Invention
The present invention relates to a device for implanting small-diameter capillary grafts into the scalp, comprising a hollow needle for gripping, at the end of it, a graft by suction and a device for rapidly withdrawing the needle.
One particularly important, but not exclusive, application of the invention is in the field of the surgical treatment of baldness by grafting natural hair, and more particularly in the field of micrografting.
2. Description Of The Related Art
The surgical treatment of baldness by capillary transplantation, called the graft technique, consists in transplanting into the same individual part of the roots of his hair located in the (still hairy) crown from the crown to the bald areas.
The grafts are cylindrical skin fragments usually obtained either by making a circular cut in the skin using a rotating cylindrical tool, directly from the scalp, or by cutting, on a hard surface using a bistoury blade, a strip of scalp removed beforehand from the crown, into many small cylindrical skin fragments each containing one to a few hair roots. Once removed, these small-sized grafts (approximately 1 mm in diameter and 5 mm in length), called micrografts, are generally gripped by means of microgrippers and then manually reimplanted, one by one, in respective receding sites prepared beforehand in the scalp.
Capillary graft implantation devices are already known.
For example, there is a suction implantation device (FR 92 12105) which comprises a hollow needle into which the entire graft is sucked up and then pushed out by a piston in its receding site.
Such a device has drawbacks. This is because it relies on complex connections of nozzles, requires perfect pre-sizing of the grafts to the internal diameter of the hollow needle, in order to prevent the needle from becoming obstructed, and does not allow the surgeon to see the depth of implantation of the graft, most particularly when the graft is inserted into a small incision in the scalp.
Manual implantation grippers are also known (FR 95 09824) which comprise two graft-gripping arms with retractable semicylindrical jaws.
Such grippers also have drawbacks. This is because they require perfect pre-sizing of the grafts to the internal diameter of the jaws, making it necessary for the graft to be oriented and positioned axially between the two jaws before it is implanted.
Consequently, the already existing devices do not allow grafts of variable size to be easily implanted and are limited in their applications. In addition, using them requires tiresome operations and manipulations, lengthening operating times.